On Thursday, 18 players return to battle for the bracelet and the hefty winner's prize of more than $800,000 at Event #17:  $5k NL Hold'em, and there are some interesting names still in with a chance.


Jason DeWitt holds the lead with Amit Makhija also holding a big stack. In 8th place there is the Coinflip blogger Antonio "Magician" Esfandiari who is chasing the second bracelet in his career, the first one coming way back in 2004 in a Pot Limit Hold'em event. That same year The Magician made his biggest tournament score to date at the WPT LA Poker Classic after defeating Vinny Vinh - who later became notorious for his own "disappearing acts" at the WSOP.

Other players still in the field include David "Raptor" Benefield and the Croatian pro Dragan Galic.

Players who busted in the money include Vivek Rajkumar, Josh Arieh, Amnon Filippi, Isaac Baron, Phil Hellmuth (WSOP cash #77, a new record), Vitali Lunkin, Chino Rheem, and Annette Obrestad (pictured) who made her first WSOP cash here.

Chip counts:

Jason DeWitt 1.873.000
Jeff Williams 1.323.000
Amit Makhija 1.317.000
Paul Foltyn 1.246.000
Samuel Trickett 945.000
Antonio Esfandiari 883.000
...
David Benefield 326.000
Dragan Galic 226.000

Source: WSOP.